


Good Doctors Do

by raven_aorla



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Molly is badass, Molly is technically not a criminal, Multi, all these geniuses faking their deaths, discussion of suicide, mention of gunshot wound, she just wants everyone to live
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-16
Updated: 2015-07-16
Packaged: 2018-04-09 15:41:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4354700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raven_aorla/pseuds/raven_aorla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mycroft Holmes is being a hypocrite, really. Molly helped Sherlock. It doesn't mean she can't help other people.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Good Doctors Do

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Good Girls Don't](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1138854) by [pasiphile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pasiphile/pseuds/pasiphile). 



> I am in awe of pasiphile's deft handling of Molly/Jim/Seb while keeping everyone in canon (or in Seb's case, common fanon) character. This is a humble tribute, meant to be compatible with "Good Girls Don't", but capable of standing alone.
> 
> Nothing is mine, except for maybe the order these particular words go in.

Mycroft Holmes had "interviewed" Molly once before, to make sure she wasn't a "bad influence" on Sherlock. She was considerably more frightened of him then. He was considerably more dismissive of her.

That isn't to say that she wasn't frightened this time. With the week she'd had, though, she'd passed through every kind of fear, anxiety, trepidation, nervousness, and distress she was capable of experiencing. All gone now. All that was left was quiet and clarity.

Mycroft circled around the chair she'd been provided. His footsteps echoed through the empty warehouse. She wondered if he had warehouses emptied and grubbed up a bit, just for these chats with people. The supply seemed improbable otherwise. 

"You're an anomaly, Dr. Hooper."

Her nervous giggle was partly genuine. At least Mycroft used her title. So many people forgot. "A lot of people say that - at Uni when I saw my first autopsy -"

A tap of the umbrella to concrete. "If pressed to name three living, human friends in addition to John Watson, my brother would grudgingly list Mrs. Hudson, Detective Inspector Lestrade, and you."

It was oddly gratifying to hear a Holmes (though not the one who really mattered) say that. Molly said nothing. Sherlock and Jim had separately given her briefings on Dealing With Mycroft, not knowing about the other. They both said Mycroft loved to create uncomfortable silences and wait for you to fill them. 

Mycroft sighed and made a show of examining his fingernails. "Of the people listed, you are the only one James Moriarty did not threaten to have killed. This despite how simply knowing his voice has been fatal to others. "

She suspected Jim was too fond of her to actually want her dead. However, if he thought Mycroft was going to find out about the threats, Jim knew leaving her out of them might also make certain people think she was his accomplice. When she took Sebastian's sudden but terrifyingly sincere advice _("Text Jim that it's time we parted ways. Delete our numbers. Keep your deniability.")_ she dreaded far worse retaliation. 

Molly genuinely knew nothing about Jim's criminal activities that she hadn't learned from Sherlock and John. They'd never shared and she'd never asked. Mycroft must have been able to see that, easily, with all his observing and reasoning. He had to be after something else.

_("You're not a gifted liar," Sherlock said to her as they planned, matter-of-fact. "Say as little as you can. Answer with the minimum amount of information possible. Pretending to be sillier and less astute than you are does come naturally to you, so make use of it. I will come to your aid whenever possible.")_

"You were watched, extensively, after you broke it off with your 'boyfriend, Jim'. Dr. Watson verbally expressed concern for your safety. Sherlock expressed concern via loudly remarking upon infinitesimal flaws in our surveillance methods. You came to no harm. You continued to come to no harm. At Sherlock's insistence, the surveillance tapered off."

"How sweet of him," Molly said, sincerely. She didn't continue. If the surveillance had gone on, Mycroft would know she stopped dating Jim from IT, then started sleeping with both Jim Moriarty and his second-in-command/flatmate Sebastian Moran. Which would make for awkward discussion right now.

"I appreciate the assistance you provided Sherlock that day." He knew she knew he knew. "I am certain he was not the only person you assisted."

Molly met Mycroft's eyes. They were cold as always, but the sadness, the weariness, in his gaze and his walk made him more human than she ever expected to see. She knew people are complex and multifaceted, but some are very good at not revealing it. 

_("Don't worry," said the handwritten note inexplicably inside her refrigerator two days after she cut herself loose. "I'm going to be busy. If anyone hurts you they'll hurt sooooooo much worse for it. I'm keeping the bra you forgot. Sorry not sorry. xx")_

She didn't tense up. She didn't look at the floor or fiddle with her sleeves. After Jim, Sherlock, and Irene, maybe she should open a death-faking side business. (Irene's partner, Kate, still sent Molly lots of unsigned, vaguely cheerful postcards with no return address.)

"A man came into the morgue with a wound to the roof of his mouth. From a prop gun filled with blanks and some kind of dye packets. His emergency contact informed me that he intended to shoot himself with a real gun, which would have killed him instantly rather than slowly. I repaired all the damage I could." Seb swapped the guns, but Jim would likely still have died without her help. Even if Seb was willing to take Jim to A&E it would have taken too long. After her patch-up Jim could survive long enough to get to a real reconstructive surgeon, somewhere else.

_("I don't really give a damn if Holmes is alive. I won't ask. I need to get Jim away from here. I knew he was spiraling, but this. Fuck. Thank you. Nobody will hurt you, Molly. Nobody.")_

Mycroft continued to stare at Molly for what felt like several minutes. "Why?"

"Being a doctor about keeping people alive and well. Pathology is about learning from the dead so you can help the living. Whether we like those people or not is irrelevant to the job. It's what good doctors do." She took a deep breath. "If I talked to police or a jury about that bit, the other things I did would come out too, you know."

"You've conveniently abstained from actual aiding and abetting. You've infringed certain hospital regulations, yes, but you losing your job so quickly after these events would raise questions and complicate things far more than worthwhile." 

Since most of the infringements had been for Sherlock, Molly should think so. She didn't lie to anyone about the anonymous woman who doubled for Irene that one Christmas Eve. Nobody asked her if she let Kate go through the Jane Does in the morgue to find a suitable corpse and cut up its face. There was no requirement for her to write anywhere, _"I know this body was misidentified. I just went over to Ms. Adler's girlfriend's flat for an afternoon with both of them that redefined my sexual horizons."_

Molly sat up and clasped her hands in front of her. "Will we be finished soon, please? I'm sorry to rush you but I need to feed my cat."

"Very well. If anyone else seems about to return from the dead, please get in touch." Mycroft held out a hand.

"I'll keep that in mind." She got up on her own.


End file.
